1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an indicator unit provided at a panel employed at a control station, and in particular, an indicator unit provided at a panel employed at a control station that constitutes an input source for various types of input for an air conditioning system for vehicles and, more specifically, it relates to a structure of a window that no covers the surface of the indicator unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an control station of this type for an air conditioning system for vehicles, an indicator unit for indicating the air conditioning temperature, the selected discharge mode and the like is provided at a panel together with input switch buttons, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. H7-41919, for instance.
While specific details of this indicator unit are not disclosed in the publication mentioned above, its surface will, under normal circumstances, be covered by a window member 100, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 in the specification of the present invention. The window member 100, which is constituted of a colorless transparent member, comprises a main body 101 and a flange 102 formed on the outside thereof. In addition, a stage is formed between the main body 101 and the flange 102 and a thick portion 105 whose edge surface 106, which constitutes the side facing the center of the window member 100, is formed in the area of the flange 102 where the flange 102 overlaps the main body 101, so that the main body 101 faces opposite an opening portion 104 of a panel 103 and that the flange 102 constitutes a retaining portion that comes in contact with the internal circumferential surface of the opening portion 104 when the window member 100 is fitted at the opening portion 104.
Thus, the window member 100 is mounted at the panel 103 with the portion of the main body 101 that overlaps the thick portion 105 positioned at the circumferential edge of the opening portion 104 by fitting the window member 100 at the opening portion 104 of the panel 103 from the rear side of the panel 103 until the flange 102 comes in contact with the opening portion 104, as illustrated in FIG. 6.
However, with the window member 100 structured as described above, when the window member 100 is viewed from the front and center (the direction indicated with the arrow 1 in FIG. 6) or from below in a diagonal direction (indicated with the arrow 2 in FIG. 6), the edge surface 106 of the thick portion 105 will reflect light or absorb light to appear dark thereby causing the main body 101 to appear to have double lines toward the center relative to the edge of the opening portion 104.
In addition, when the window member 100 is viewed from the center front direction (indicated with the arrow 1 in FIG. 6), the thickness of the thick portion 105 causes its color to look different from the color of the main body 101 or the panel 103, causing the area of the main body 101 that overlaps the thick portion 105 to take on the appearance of a picture frame.
These conditions pose a problem in that the window member 100 will present a confusing visual aspect to the user and will, therefore, appear to have been poorly designed and made.
As a means for improving the external appearance of the window member 100, the rear surface side of the thick portion 105 may be colored in the same color as the panel 103 or in black by performing silkscreen printing on the rear surface of the thick portion 105 (not shown).
However, there is a concern that the printing work and the like may become difficult if there are indentations or projections in the area to be printed. In addition, when performing silkscreen printing at the thick portion 105, it is necessary to accurately mask the area surrounding the portion to be printed, which complicates the work process and causes an increase in production cost.
Furthermore, coloring the rear surface side of the thick portion 105 in the same color as that of the panel 103 or in black, does not eliminate the problem of the edge surface 106 of the thick portion 105 reflecting or absorbing light, to make it look dark, causing the main body 101 to appear to have double lines toward the center relative to the edge of the opening portion 104.